Denys Drozdyuk returns to competition!

 Denys and his partner Antonina in Blackpool 2010

Photo credit:Volgyi Attila

The winner of So you think you can dance Canada, Denys Drozdyuk returned to ballroom competitions with his partner Antonina Skobina almost immediately after the show.

Denys has been compared to the great ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. I do see the resemblance.

                                       

Denys in a photo shoot                                                      The late Rudolf Nureyev
Photo credit: CTV                                              Photo credit: Rudolf Nureyev Foundation

I love this dancer because he is different from previous ballroom contestants on SYTYCD. Most of them quit competition and end up doing shows or dancing with celebrities on Dancing with the Stars or Strictly Come Dancing. Some good examples of ex-contestants that have gone to reality TV or just shows are Pasha Kovalev and Anya Garnis, Artem Chigvintsev, Chelsie Hightower and Lacey Schwimmer.

In this interview with Hanna Kattunen with Dancesportinfo, she explain her opinion on this.

"Some people, some dancers choose to go there and choose not to develop their own dancing anymore. So, from our point of view, it is a loss of some great dancers but it is also an opportunity for some of them, who, for instance, might not have been able to make the Blackpool final, to make their dancing successful for them, in a different form."

Denys seems to be all about the dancing. Unlike other dancers, he's not following the quick and easy money, but he is continuing to develop his dancing. His first result back was lower than what I expected considering he was Top 59 at Blackpool this year, but this makes sense because he did spend months away from ballroom training.

Here's a montage of his brilliance on the show



I hope Denys continues competing and staying true to dancing.